One Minute You Win, Sixty Seconds You Loose (OMYW,SSYL)1 Minute Film Festival & Film Screenings

This is a monthly film night/festival with 2 intentions. 1 intention is to provide a place to watch a variety of films suggested by people who come to the film night. The 2nd intention is to create a mini film festival where people who do and don’t come to the film night make 1 minute films under specific guidelines. (more info here)

The hope is that we can watch a variety of good films that do not have a large promotional machine behind them and for it to be easy and relaxed. After watching the films people could talk about the films or they might just want to go home.

In April we will be screening 3 short films by London film-maker John Smith. As its our our first screening at OSE we are going to have a BBQ, some beers (or juice) and music to accompany the really excellent films by John Smith. You are also keenly invited to submit a One Minute Film to the festival.

John Smith is an East London film maker, born in Walthamstow, he has lived in Dalston for over 40 years making a large number of films and istallations for cinema, TV and exhibitions. Described as subverting the boundary between documentary & fiction, representation & abstraction John Smith’s work is purposely self reflective, constantly questioning the camera he is using, what he’s looking at and how hes narrating. Its also funny.

The Black Tower(1985-7) 24 mins. Colour. Sound. 16mm.
“In The Black Tower we enter the world of a man haunted by a tower which, he believes, is following him around London. While the character of the central protagonist is indicated only by a narrative voice-over which takes us from unease to breakdown to mysterious death, the images, meticulously controlled and articulated, deliver a series of colour coded puzzles, jokes and puns which pull the viewer into a mind-teasing engagement. Smith’s assurance and skill as a filmmaker undercuts the notion of the avant-garde as dry, unprofessional and dull and in The Black Tower we have an example of a film which plays with the emotions as well as the language of film.” Nik Houghton, Independent Media.

Slow Glass (1988-91) 40 mins. Colour. Sound. 16mm.
Through a nostalgic glazier showing off his knowledge and expounding his own theories ‘Slow Glass’ uses glass-making to explore ideas about memory and change in East London life. The “immaculately shot puns”, editing and presence of the camera all highlight the format of film (and it’s own unreality) to reflect the symbolism of glass and illustrate further ideas on the change of London’s social landscape from craft based labour to the speculation of the property market.